The first years of the PhD program is biomedical engineering is heavily invested in course work. To that end, Dr. Givan has minimized clinical contact and successfully completed 38 hours of course work. In accordance with the program plan for the first year in biomedical engineering, he has not yet selected a final research topic. However, he is exploring the area of the mechanisms and chemistry of wear interfaces on posterior composite restorative resins. A better understanding of these phenomena may help us design new restorations and predict success or failure.